Balanus trigonus

Balanus trigonus, the triangle barnacle, is a species of barnacle in the family Balanidae. They are steep-sided, conical creatures, have six shell plates and are dark pink in colour. Originally found only in the Indo-Pacific and along the eastern Pacific coast, they were likely introduced to the Atlantic Ocean in the 19th century through human activity and now has a global distribution. Usually living on subtidal rocks and shells, they are also foulers of ships and dock infrastructure, and, in areas where they are invasive, may compete with native species for living room. The species was first described in the genus Balanus by Charles Darwin. It has since had its mitochondrial genome sequenced twice, with slightly differing results, leaving its phylogenetic position unsolved.

Balanus trigonus

Uncredited · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
BalanusPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Balanidae
Life habit
epifaunal, gregariousPBDB, for Balanidae
Motility
stationary, attached, epibiontPBDB, for Balanidae
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Cirripedia

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 3 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 3 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 3 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 3 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.6 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

3 occurrences of Balanus trigonus on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

3 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Mulege — 27.07°N, 111.97°WTamiami — 26.13°N, 81.48°W

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The named rock units Balanus trigonus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Balanus trigonus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Balanus trigonus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

56 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Balanus trigonus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

3 references

Each of the 3 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Balanus trigonus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Balanus trigonus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBalanus through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Darwin 1854